Abstract This editorial shows how the digital economy continuously reshapes work and employment. Based on a literature review, it illustrates that digitalization frequently implies job loss, de-skilling and measures to restrict co-determination and participation of labor. However, digitalization also offers opportunities for managers, employees and unions to create new work tasks and conditions for skilled work. After showing major trends of digitalization in the last decades, the editorial illustrates recent research fields in economic geography.
{"title":"<b>Digitalization and Labor Restructuring</b>","authors":"Martina Fuchs, Andrew Cumbers","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2023-0047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2023-0047","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This editorial shows how the digital economy continuously reshapes work and employment. Based on a literature review, it illustrates that digitalization frequently implies job loss, de-skilling and measures to restrict co-determination and participation of labor. However, digitalization also offers opportunities for managers, employees and unions to create new work tasks and conditions for skilled work. After showing major trends of digitalization in the last decades, the editorial illustrates recent research fields in economic geography.","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135303107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Franz Flögel, Philipp Schepelmann, Hans-Martin Zademach, Michael Zörner
Abstract Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute considerably to Germany’s carbon emissions, regional savings and cooperative banks − SMEs’ most important financiers − hardly consider this aspect in lending to these businesses. However, given Germany’s commitment to climate neutrality by 2045, suitable approaches for injecting climate finance into these SME lending processes are greatly required. Against this background, the paper at hand aims to introduce the specific case of regional banks into the debate on green finance and green banking and suggest future research in this context. In discussing the state of research on the peculiarities of regional savings and cooperative banks, we outline the resulting opportunities and limitations for climate impact assessments in SME lending. We argue that while the dual bottom-line orientation of regional banks in Germany precludes them from applying simple positive or negative screenings, their in-depth knowledge about local clients and circumstances enables them to be active and engaging partners for the green transformation of SMEs. Nonetheless, we explain why developing solutions to utilise this knowledge for climate finance by integrating climate impact assessments into routine lending processes remains a particularly challenging task.
{"title":"Injecting climate finance into SME lending in Germany: Opportunities for and limitations of regional savings and cooperative Banks","authors":"Franz Flögel, Philipp Schepelmann, Hans-Martin Zademach, Michael Zörner","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2022-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2022-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute considerably to Germany’s carbon emissions, regional savings and cooperative banks − SMEs’ most important financiers − hardly consider this aspect in lending to these businesses. However, given Germany’s commitment to climate neutrality by 2045, suitable approaches for injecting climate finance into these SME lending processes are greatly required. Against this background, the paper at hand aims to introduce the specific case of regional banks into the debate on green finance and green banking and suggest future research in this context. In discussing the state of research on the peculiarities of regional savings and cooperative banks, we outline the resulting opportunities and limitations for climate impact assessments in SME lending. We argue that while the dual bottom-line orientation of regional banks in Germany precludes them from applying simple positive or negative screenings, their in-depth knowledge about local clients and circumstances enables them to be active and engaging partners for the green transformation of SMEs. Nonetheless, we explain why developing solutions to utilise this knowledge for climate finance by integrating climate impact assessments into routine lending processes remains a particularly challenging task.","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"26 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72472026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Although the UK’s exit from the European Union – ‘Brexit’ – has overwhelmingly dominated the national political discourse since 2016 to the expense of nearly every other domestic issue, the policy agenda in the wake of this process is beginning to emerge. This paper examines this agenda, ostensibly supporting a programme of ‘levelling up’ which responds to the perceived root-causes of Brexit. In doing so, we consider the funding streams proposed by the UK Government – namely the Towns Fund, Shared Prosperity Fund and Levelling Up Funds – and examine the extent to which the rhetoric aligns with the reality of their allocation. In doing so, we also consider how, if at all, these schemes correspond to the European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF) they are intended to replace. This paper examines this period of change to consider how the Brexit process is mirroring, and indeed entrenching, these processes of uneven development. We find that the early indications suggest that the UK government is proceeding with funding allocations in a way which can overlook places which meet the technical funding criteria, and therefore indicates political favouring is at play.
{"title":"Levelling Up and The Privileging of sub-national governance in England in the inter-Brexit space","authors":"A. Nurse, O. Sykes","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2023-0048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2023-0048","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Although the UK’s exit from the European Union – ‘Brexit’ – has overwhelmingly dominated the national political discourse since 2016 to the expense of nearly every other domestic issue, the policy agenda in the wake of this process is beginning to emerge. This paper examines this agenda, ostensibly supporting a programme of ‘levelling up’ which responds to the perceived root-causes of Brexit. In doing so, we consider the funding streams proposed by the UK Government – namely the Towns Fund, Shared Prosperity Fund and Levelling Up Funds – and examine the extent to which the rhetoric aligns with the reality of their allocation. In doing so, we also consider how, if at all, these schemes correspond to the European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF) they are intended to replace. This paper examines this period of change to consider how the Brexit process is mirroring, and indeed entrenching, these processes of uneven development. We find that the early indications suggest that the UK government is proceeding with funding allocations in a way which can overlook places which meet the technical funding criteria, and therefore indicates political favouring is at play.","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85154437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This editorial offers a comprehensive introduction to the economic geographies of Brexit. It reviews the state of research on the multiple causes and consequences of the 2016 UK referendum and highlights the role of geographical context in the way that these factors interact in affecting voting behaviour and economic impact. Departing from an appraisal of the literature, we discuss the scope of six original studies collected in the special issue that, each using different analytical methods, present evidence on the impact of Brexit on the relocation of financial services firms, the recoupling of London with the other European financial centres, differences in regional productivity across the UK, as well as on the potential of UK regional policy to offset the disadvantages of financial decoupling from the European Union. Recognizing signs of political and economic disintegration beyond Europe, we conclude by highlighting a need for further research on the economic geographies of de- and recoupling.
{"title":"Seven Years of Brexit: Economic Geographies of Regional De- and Recoupling","authors":"Johannes Glückler, D. Wójcik","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2023-0046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2023-0046","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This editorial offers a comprehensive introduction to the economic geographies of Brexit. It reviews the state of research on the multiple causes and consequences of the 2016 UK referendum and highlights the role of geographical context in the way that these factors interact in affecting voting behaviour and economic impact. Departing from an appraisal of the literature, we discuss the scope of six original studies collected in the special issue that, each using different analytical methods, present evidence on the impact of Brexit on the relocation of financial services firms, the recoupling of London with the other European financial centres, differences in regional productivity across the UK, as well as on the potential of UK regional policy to offset the disadvantages of financial decoupling from the European Union. Recognizing signs of political and economic disintegration beyond Europe, we conclude by highlighting a need for further research on the economic geographies of de- and recoupling.","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75339415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Because Brexit has implied a surge of relocation decisions by financial service firms during a short period of time, we examine the locational decisions of the financial industry in Europe. Adopting a relational perspective we analyze the association between similar relocation decisions of UK-based banks and the connectivity of their decision boards. Based on an analysis of relocation announcements in the media, press releases, and annual reports, as well as of interlocking directorships within the financial sector, our study connects research streams on relocation and internationalization with cross-board memberships and interlocks. Our findings suggest that the higher the competition between two banks and the stronger the connectivity in interlocking board memberships between them, the more likely are these banks to announce different relocation decisions. We interpret these robust findings as a behavior that effectively reduces competition for limited localized resources.
{"title":"Post-Brexit: Do board interlocks make banks take similar relocation decisions?","authors":"Robert Panitz, Johannes Glückler","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2021-0043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2021-0043","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Because Brexit has implied a surge of relocation decisions by financial service firms during a short period of time, we examine the locational decisions of the financial industry in Europe. Adopting a relational perspective we analyze the association between similar relocation decisions of UK-based banks and the connectivity of their decision boards. Based on an analysis of relocation announcements in the media, press releases, and annual reports, as well as of interlocking directorships within the financial sector, our study connects research streams on relocation and internationalization with cross-board memberships and interlocks. Our findings suggest that the higher the competition between two banks and the stronger the connectivity in interlocking board memberships between them, the more likely are these banks to announce different relocation decisions. We interpret these robust findings as a behavior that effectively reduces competition for limited localized resources.","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84149946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Corrigendum zu: Zum Stand der geographischen Handelsforschung: Handelsimmobilien und Handelstätigkeit – Ökonomisch-funktionaler Zusammenhang im Kontext der geographischen Handelsforschung","authors":"K. Klein","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2023-2002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2023-2002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"45 1","pages":"65 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83726326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract It is increasingly emphasized that firms’ innovation depends on external knowledge interaction in the field of economic geography. Global knowledge linkages and interaction plays crucial role in gaining competitive advantage for firms in developing countries because of their immature innovation systems, inspiring a wide academic interest around cross-border knowledge pipelines. However, the existing literature has been silent about the type in which firms employ cross-border knowledge pipelines and neglects the potential importance of firm’s ownership in this process. Using 2015 survey micro-data of 4685 Chinese firms in Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, we investigate how different types of cross-border knowledge pipelines indicated by foreign R&D investment and returnees influence firm’s innovation. The research highlights the positive effects of foreign R&D investment and returnees on firms’ patent innovation, while returnees exerts negative influence on firms’ product innovation. Moreover, there exists a complementary relation between foreign R&D investment and returnees in facilitating firm’s patent innovation. State ownership negatively affects the relationship between foreign R&D investment and firms’ patent innovation.
{"title":"Cross-Border knowledge pipelines and innovation performance of chinese firms: evidence from Zhangjiang in Shanghai","authors":"G. Zeng, Yi Zhang, Xianzhong Cao","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2022-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2022-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract It is increasingly emphasized that firms’ innovation depends on external knowledge interaction in the field of economic geography. Global knowledge linkages and interaction plays crucial role in gaining competitive advantage for firms in developing countries because of their immature innovation systems, inspiring a wide academic interest around cross-border knowledge pipelines. However, the existing literature has been silent about the type in which firms employ cross-border knowledge pipelines and neglects the potential importance of firm’s ownership in this process. Using 2015 survey micro-data of 4685 Chinese firms in Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, we investigate how different types of cross-border knowledge pipelines indicated by foreign R&D investment and returnees influence firm’s innovation. The research highlights the positive effects of foreign R&D investment and returnees on firms’ patent innovation, while returnees exerts negative influence on firms’ product innovation. Moreover, there exists a complementary relation between foreign R&D investment and returnees in facilitating firm’s patent innovation. State ownership negatively affects the relationship between foreign R&D investment and firms’ patent innovation.","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"10 1","pages":"33 - 46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87456225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract For many years, struggles over value capture have been taking place between different actors in the logistics sector, creating ever more pressure for workers in traditional activities of logistics. New actors, in the form of digital business-to-business (B2B) platforms, which are proliferating especially in the freight transport sector, are further challenging the already contested field. Based on the Global Production Networks (GPN) approach, this study addresses the question of how B2B platforms affect labour in production networks of logistics, and what labour agency practices are emerging in the face of advancing platformisation. The study draws on interviews with various actors operating in the road freight transport sector in Germany. The results show that digital B2B platforms, due to their intermediary function, have a direct impact on the inclusion and exclusion of actors involved in production networks of logistics, and induce not only a race to the bottom in terms of labour conditions, but also produce increasingly contingent geographies of logistics. This paper contributes to the literature on platforms by examining previously neglected B2B platforms and shedding light on the different ways that labour in global production networks can be affected by new agents, such as digital platforms.
{"title":"Trucking (un)limited – the impact of digital platforms on labour in production networks of logistics","authors":"Veronique Helwing, Philip Verfürth, M. Franz","doi":"10.1515/zfw-2021-0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2021-0032","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract For many years, struggles over value capture have been taking place between different actors in the logistics sector, creating ever more pressure for workers in traditional activities of logistics. New actors, in the form of digital business-to-business (B2B) platforms, which are proliferating especially in the freight transport sector, are further challenging the already contested field. Based on the Global Production Networks (GPN) approach, this study addresses the question of how B2B platforms affect labour in production networks of logistics, and what labour agency practices are emerging in the face of advancing platformisation. The study draws on interviews with various actors operating in the road freight transport sector in Germany. The results show that digital B2B platforms, due to their intermediary function, have a direct impact on the inclusion and exclusion of actors involved in production networks of logistics, and induce not only a race to the bottom in terms of labour conditions, but also produce increasingly contingent geographies of logistics. This paper contributes to the literature on platforms by examining previously neglected B2B platforms and shedding light on the different ways that labour in global production networks can be affected by new agents, such as digital platforms.","PeriodicalId":29690,"journal":{"name":"ZFW-Advances in Economic Geography","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75092983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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